*FOREST TROUBLE-PART 1*

"The witches are very cunning creatures, ugly in their true appearance and want nothing but to gain more and more power." Their water had arrived and Aria took a sip of it, the water running down her throat and cooling her nerves.

"Unlike their true appearance, they have like a mask to cover it up so as to lure in prey. To lure in humans." His eyes focused on her face which was seriously trying to take in the chunk of information he was throwing at her.

"How that woman died, they would have kept it a secret yet they hung her body were it would catch attention, do you think they did that as a warning?." She asked. Her fingers holding the glass firmly.

"Yes. What they did was definitely to make sure we steer clear from their path. That was why I was called here." He confessed and Aria's eyes narrowed down at him.

"So you weren't just passing by." She frowned. He had lied.

"Yes." He scratched his head nervously and Aria didn't know when a smile crawled up her face. He looked so cute.

"Let me start from the top." He took a deep breath and started.

"This kingdom is divided into four towns. Ashton, Scar, Azove and Santosh. The castle is situated in Ashton and bringing these towns together gives us the kingdom of Ash." He paused to see if she was following and she nodded for him to continue.

"I work at Ashton and as you would have guessed, I haunt down witches. You could kind of call me a witch hunter." He revealed slowly, watching her every reaction and saw that she didn't look one bit surprised.

"We didn't arrive early on the hanging of the witch but came soon after. If we had, we would have informed them that a witch can't die by hanging and instead must be burned."

"As I delved deeper into the witches and their nature, I found out that witches who haven't been burned can come back to life with dark magic."

"Dark magic?." She arched a brow at the thought. She had never heard of that.

"Yes. It is said that once a witch uses dark magic, they get so drunk with it that they can't live without it."

Aria didn't know what to do with this much information. She had lived her whole life isolated from the kingdom's affairs so she knew none of this.

"We will be going at moonrise to get the witches today."

"Go with him." She heard a voice she was too familiar with whisper next to her.

Aria who was drinking her water suddenly choked on hearing his voice.

"Are you alright?." Edmond swiftly stood up and patted her back gently as she tried to recover from the shock.

"Haven't you had enough in commanding me for one day?." She whispered back to him, her face flushed in anger.

"Trust me when I say you wouldn't want to disobey me again." He warned and she sighed in defeat.

Why did he want her to go now!?.

"Edmond, could I join you tonight, when you are haunting blood hungry dangerous witches." She stressed each word so that the shadow would know what he had just pushed her to but Edmond didn't seem to like the idea.

"No way, there's no way I'm letting you do that. It's not safe." He stood up and she stood with him.

"But I want to know how you work, how the witches actually look like in real life." She pleaded with him, pouting her lips in the most adorable manner she could muster.

She knew this was wrong. She was taking advantage of him and a pang of guilt struck her heart.

"Fine." He finally agreed and she smiled.

"Thank you." She breathed.

They stayed a little longer and chatted about random stuffs, laughing occasionally until it was time to leave.

"Your Highness." A man stood at the table and bowed his head.

Aria looked at him suspiciously. How the hell did he get here!? She hadn't heard him enter or his footsteps!.

"Is the carriage ready Derick?." Edmond asked the man who straightened up.

"Yes."

Aria couldn't help but gape at the man. Shiny blonde hair, brown eyes and a face to die for.

There was just something very different about Edmond and his squad.

They left the eatery soon after as she and Edmond rode in a carriage while the rest rode on their respective horses.

It was obvious that Edmond had chosen to ride in the carriage just because of her and she was touched.

She couldn't believe she was going to betray a kind hearted person like him. It made her feel worse about herself.

"Aria." He called her name when the carriage stopped and she turned to him, her eyes gazing into his.

"Please don't leave the carriage. And if you hear any noise just call for my help." His face was unusually serious and Aria nodded, matching his seriousness.

"Goodbye." He smiled to ease up the tension on her face and she smiled back before he left the carriage, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Leaning on the carriage door, she tried to see if she could see him but it seemed as though he had disappeared with the rest of his team.

The moon appeared full and the cold breeze caressed her skin gently as she stared into the forest.

It was oddly quiet.

"Excuse me?." She heard a small voice croak and looked at the direction in which the voice came from.

It was a woman who was limping, she wore the clothes that belonged to a commoner and Aria could see she had a large gash on her stomach.

She was bleeding profusely and Aria felt her heart skip a beat. She couldn't leave her like that. Even though Edmond had said that she shouldn't go out she had to help.

Even if it meant going out.

Without thinking twice, Aria jumped out of the carriage to help her, her hand holding her gown to avoid slipping.

"Are you alright ma'am?." She quickly helped the woman to the carriage and the woman leaned on the carriage door for support.

"I was attacked by those witches but a group of men helped me there, they said I would find a carriage waiting outside here." She took a deep breath as her hand held her stomach to avoid the blood from spilling further and Aria felt like she needed to do something to help.

"Is there anyway I can help you?." She approached the woman slowly and the woman nodded.

"Can you please place this on the wound?." She handed Aria a leave and Aria did exactly as she was told.

"Anything else?." She asked, her full focus on the leave but froze when she saw the woman's nails sharpen into claws.

"Now stay very still as I tear you open."